This year's budget deficit is estimated to reach 2.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), lower than the 2.4 percent figure set in the revised 2009 state budget, according to the Finance Ministry.
"The deficit is about 2.2 percent, or Rp 119 trillion (US$12.61 billion)," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told reporters Wednesday night at her office. She said the deficit might still vary by between Rp 5 trillion and Rp 7 trillion depending on the revenues obtained or expenditures disbursed by the government up until the end of the year.
In the revised 2009 budget, the deficit is estimated to reach 2.4 percent, or Rp 129.8 trillion. To cover this the government has planned to attract Rp 142.6 trillion from domestic bonds, while paying Rp 12.7 trillion in foreign debts.
Mulyani said the spending level of ministries and government agencies might reach up to 97 percent of the Rp 725.2 trillion allocated in the budget by the year's end.
Meanwhile, as of Dec. 17 expenditure on goods and services reached 85 percent of the Rp 85.5 trillion allocated, while capital expenditure reached 95 percent of the Rp 73.4 trillion allocated, she said.
The total expenditure level set by the revised 2009 budget stood at Rp 1,000.8 trillion.
Mulyani said the Finance Ministry is waiting for data on the revenues obtained by the tax office to determine the final deficit figure.
In the revised 2009 budget the government expects to book Rp 871 trillion in total revenues. The minister also said some ministries had failed to channel the Rp 12.2 trillion in the infrastructure stimulus package on time. "There are ministries whose progress *in disbursing the stimulus* is not visible. In another week there may be no progress *on this*."
Analysts said Indonesia's economy managed to score an above 4 percent growth-rate this year without a significant contribution from the infrastructure stimulus package. Private consumption in the first nine months this year remained the major contributor to the economy.
Mulyani said that ministries and government agencies that failed to disburse the stimulus as allocated would be sanctioned. Starting from 2010 the government will implement a performance-based budget, which means the budget a ministry or government agency receives will from now on depend on its performance in the previous year.
Next year the government will issue Rp 175 trillion in bonds to plug a budget deficit of Rp 98 trillion, said director general of debt management Rahmat Waluyanto.
The government expects to receive Rp 949.7 trillion in total revenues next year as the economy begins full recovery. It plans to spend Rp 1,047.7 trillion in its total expenditure for next year.
